It's the Economy, Stupid!

[herzlos]

May 10, 2024 16:38:33 GMT -5 skyth said:

May 10, 2024 16:16:10 GMT -5 carlo87 said:

I would like to see this study redone, but with different names. Employers do prefer easier to pronounce names, and many of those Black names don't exactly roll off the tongue. Swap out some Jims and Johns for Regenold and Geoffrey. 

And they are 'easier to pronounce' because they are 'white' names...

I know of a few white names that Americans can't pronounce (mine included, so I use a different name when I can), with a hard R or and ay (as in hay) sound. Craig for instance is not pronounced creg.

I've never really thought about it but they seem to try once or twice and then give up, and no-one really bothers to correct them, so I guess the same will happen with names from other languages.  They do seem to be more willing to try and tackle the new unique white names like Mackeileleahghghgh, or mnop (Noel). But I can't tell how much of that is real or parody any more. There's definitely a lot more deliberately stupid names of kids in schools now.

[easye]

May 10, 2024 16:16:10 GMT -5 carlo87 said:

Apr 8, 2024 13:41:23 GMT -5 skyth said:

www.yahoo.com/news/researchers-discovered-sent-80-000-165423098.html

But racism doesn't exist...

I would like to see this study redone, but with different names. Employers do prefer easier to pronounce names, and many of those Black names don't exactly roll off the tongue. Swap out some Jims and Johns for Regenold and Geoffrey. 

This study has been done numerous times, with various names and always gets pretty much the same results.  

[easye]

www.npr.org/2024/05/15/1251545285/eggs-milk-and-other-grocery-prices-fall-as-overall-inflation-eases

Eggs, milk and other grocery prices fall as overall inflation eases

Inflation slowed last month, offering a note of relief to cash-strapped shoppers after three months of bigger-than-expected price increases.

Consumer prices in April were up 3.4% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department, a smaller annual increase than the month before. The cost of living rose 0.3% between March and April. Rising rents and gasoline prices were partially offset by falling prices for groceries, including household staples such as eggs and milk.

"Core" inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was 3.6% in April — the lowest reading in three years.

[skyth]

I believe some democratic congresscritters sent a letter to Biden with suggestions on how to deal with the grocery chains that were artificially inflating food prices to stuff their pockets during the pandemic. Hopefully this has an effect as well.

[easye]

www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251789724/dow-jones-40000-rally-stocks-inflation-economy-recession-ai

The Dow Jones hits 40,000 for the first time. What to know about this major milestone

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 40,000 points on Thursday for the first time ever, signaling a strong endorsement of the health of the U.S. economy.

The trigger that drove the market to a historic high was new data released Wednesday showing annual inflation easing after three consecutive months of higher-than-expected reports.

[easye]

What does a downtown rebound look like? More residents and weekend visitors

www.npr.org/2024/06/11/1250932384/downtowns-rebound-afterhours-residents-philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Will America's downtowns decline due to hybrid work, or be revived by a boom in residents and visitors enjoying weeknight cocktails and Sunday brunch?

That's the question playing out in big cities across the U.S., more than two years after they began emerging from the pandemic's grasp.

Take Philadelphia.

Its downtown district uses sensors to count pedestrians at 23 different locations around the clock. That data can be used by retailers and developers to gauge foot traffic and likely business.

And it can also indicate something else: how well downtown is recovering.

For downtown Philly, those numbers are mixed, according to a new report. The area now draws 85% of the total pedestrian volumes that it did in 2019, while office workers are back at 72% of what they were in the pre-pandemic days.

[herzlos]

Another study about RTO with fairly obvious but interesting results:
www.bamboohr.com/resources/guides/return-to-office

Half of workers (52%) prefer to work remotely, while 2 out of 5 (39%) prefer to be in the office.
The majority of both remote (88%) and in-office (79%) workers take actions to prove they’re online and working.
42% of employees who returned to the office say they feel like they are showing up just for visibility.
Close to a third (32%) of managers admit the desire to track employees was a main goal for their company’s RTO.
22% of HR pros admit their organization doesn’t have any metrics to measure a successful RTO.
A quarter (26%) of employees say a greater divide has developed between remote and non-remote workers since RTO, and close to half (44%) of hybrid/in-office employees say they don’t have as strong of a relationship with remote colleagues compared to those they see in office more often.

Which seems to track with what I've seen. When I'm in the office very little work seems to actually be happening but it seems to all be about visibility and I'm pretty much only in on days my boss is so it doesn't feel like a total waste of time.

And the zinger, buried away at the bottom:

Nearly two in five (37%) managers, directors, and executives believe their organization enacted layoffs in the last year because fewer employees than they expected quit during their RTO. And their beliefs are well-founded: One in four (25%) VP and C-suite executives and one in five (18%) HR pros admit they hoped for some voluntary turnover during an RTO.

Sadly, I feel there may be a tiny element of that going on at my place with increased pressure to be in the office, but my life revolves around working from home which I've been doing successfully for years now and my productivity will be annihilated if I need to travel in daily.

[Peregrine]

Close to a third (32%) of managers admit the desire to track employees was a main goal for their company’s RTO.

IOW, 68% of managers are liars as well as useless parasites.

[easye]

Management-type and it is a lot easier to track and keep things squared away in the Office. You have to work a lot harder to keep relationships going in a WFH environment. However, it can be done with simple and small changes to your routines, processes, and the way you work.

I anticipated a "RTO" policy, so I made sure we sold our building during COVID so that RTO was not an option. Tee-hee! Tee-hee!

[adurot]

Jun 12, 2024 3:18:53 GMT -5 Peregrine said:

Close to a third (32%) of managers admit the desire to track employees was a main goal for their company’s RTO.

IOW, 68% of managers are liars as well as useless parasites.

I’m a manager…

[easye]

Oh dear.

Even wealthy Americans are struggling to make ends meet

www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/economy/wealthy-economy-inflation/index.html

About one in three Americans making six-figure salaries are worried about paying their bills, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

The survey finds a notable increase over the past year of consumers making $100,000 a year or more who are concerned about making ends meet over the next 12 months.

A significant share of wealthier Americans are coping with financial pressure by cutting spending, including dialing back restaurant visits and entertainment.

[bobtheinquisitor]

That’s a weird definition of wealthy. Maybe it’s just because I’m in California, but 100,000 is not wealthy; it’s barely enough to live on if one has any kind of medical issues at all.

[easye]

If you look at the median income of the country..... yeah...... in the US in 2023 it is ~$59K- Median.

You can see some state-by-state comparisons here:
www.cnbc.com/2024/04/14/median-annual-income-in-every-us-state.html

[herzlos]

I'm not convinced someone that can "dialing back restaurant visits and entertainment" is struggling to make ends meet. These are people who've found that the cost of living increase has bitten into their spare cash but aren't likely to be worried about paying for their necessities. I'll happily accept that some people on $100k+ may be struggling with higher mortgage payments and housing costs, cash flow issues etc. but many could presumably downgrade cars or holidays etc if they were actually stuck.

You can see that from the figures - 31% are worried about paying bills but only 17% are cutting essential spending like food/medical.

But then I'm coming at it from seeing people who can't afford supermarket food and can't even dream of restaurants.

[Haighus]

Yeah, there is a difference between "can't afford my current standard of living" and "can't afford to live". I'm circling the former but I'm under no illusions that I'm comfortably far from the latter.